New 'Percy Jackson' Series Brings Back YA Adaptations' Racist Fan Problem
In Disney's continuing quest to ensure that children love their streaming service more than friends, family, and the outdoors, the Mouse House is currently producing a new series based on the Percy Jackson & the Olympians YA fantasy book series. Unfortunately, this has also prompted a racist backlash from "fans" who have a problem with the casting of Black actress Leah Jeffries in the role of Annabeth Chase, Percy's best friend. Yes, apparently, they are okay with literal Greek gods hanging around but draw the line at the slightest modicum of racial diversity.
Author Rick Riordan recently penned a blog post decrying those who are "upset/disappointed/frustrated/angry because a Black actor has been cast to play a character who was described as white in the books" and defending the literal child being targeted by these bigoted complaints. This has sadly become a common occurrence with YA franchise adaptations. Remember how there was an "angry outcry from certain fans" over the casting of a Black actress, Noma Dumezweni, as an adult Hermione in the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child stage play, thus ruining the production for racists who were thus unable to fully enjoy the story involving both time travel and Voldemort's sexual proclivities?
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And even though the character of Rue in The Hunger Games is described in the book as having “dark brown skin and eyes,” when audiences saw Amandla Stenberg in the role, some garbage fans claimed that the Black actress’ presence “ruined the movie.” One absolute toxic waste dump of a human being on Twitter said that Rue’s death scene wasn’t “as sad” in the movie as in the book because it was a Black child meeting a tragic end instead of the white one they had pictured in their head.
Maybe one day we'll get an adaptation of YA books that doesn’t result in people straight-up acting like the villains in said books.
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Top Image: 20th Century Studios/Lionsgate
